Two library talks down and one left to go next week! It’s
been a very interesting experience so
far, but I’m not sure what to conclude from it, so I guess I’ll tell you about it
and perhaps gain some insight in the process. I had planned the first talk with
the emphasis on book collecting with ephemera as the secondary topic, but as
soon as the first two people walked into the room my entire plan went up in a puff
of smoke. The small crowd – about half a dozen people – did not collect either
books OR ephemera, nor did they plan to! So why were they there, you might ask.
I asked myself that very question as I took a deep breath and winged it. All I
can say is it’s a good thing I’m a prolific talker or I would have been toast.
I had brought a ton of ephemera and a handful of carefully
chosen books, so at least there were props to fall back on, but right out of
the gate one couple in particular asked surprisingly insightful questions about
the future of books and how the internet has affected book prices. Both had
dabbled in books and paper over the years, but are older now and have no plans
to take it up again. Like ALL of the audience, they’d come to my program for
one reason and one reason only – they love library programs! First of all, library
programs are free and, secondly, they often focus on oddball stuff, so an
evening spent learning about something new trumps TV any night in the week. It’s
also important to note that with the exception of one thirty-something and one
forty-something (both women) the 60-plus age bracket ruled.
Interestingly enough though, the gap between young and old was not as huge
as you might expect. Though the younger ones probably read more, they were
reading new books (the subject of Fifty Shades of Gray even arose)! But one did perk up when I discussed vintage
magazines and the other mentioned that she’d impulsively bought a scrapbook
from the 20’s filled with gardening articles. Of course two people’s experiences
are not enough to help me reach any meaningful suppositions, but both do speak to the
trend I saw at the 2011 antiquarian book and paper show when young people were the ones snapping up my ephemera items. I’m not sure I
can say that the evening made any significant impact on the audience, but everybody had fun and
so did I.
That being said, I happily
went off to my second talk last night, this time in a less affluent area, but
certainly not an impoverished one. I showed up with the same heavy box of props
and great enthusiasm, only this time with no agenda. Forget that original talk I’d so
carefully planned! If needed, I’d dust
it off, otherwise I’d ad lib. The audience
was slightly bigger, but there wasn’t a young person to be found -- EVERYONE
was 60-plus. One couple considered themselves more amassers than collectors,
but did feel that perhaps they had some books and postcards which might have
value, so we talked a bit about the dispersal of a collection. On the flip side
though one of the older women in the group still actively collected paper and had
no intention of stopping. She figured that she’d taken care of her kids a lot
of years so they could take care of “a little paper” of hers someday! Another
woman seriously collected glass, but asked
questions about the collectibility of Pearl Buck and old cookbooks. At
last -- some traction! But even those who were not collectors were internet savvy and enjoyed learning about ephemera, some of which brought back memories. We even talked about collecting it forward instead of backwards. Every day ephemera comes into our homes – most of it not worthy of being kept, but some of it surprisingly worthy. Of course due to age none of them would reap any financial benefit from doing it, but they still seemed to like the idea of hanging on to the printed word for future collectors. The concern for the future of the written word -- both printed AND handwritten -- was universal in this group. Not only did they understand that it was in jeopardy, but also knew exactly what forces threatened it and what the impact might be for future generations. In summation, it was a smart, fun group which rocked and rolled in Mogadore!
I still have one talk left to give, but instead of
expecting more of the same, I’m once again finding myself reluctant to predict
anything. The upcoming area is urban whereas the other two were not, and has a
reputation for being an “arty” place, both factors which could possibly skew results in some unknown way. I’ll report
back after it’s done, but for now I’d say
that despite the small attendance and the fact that I reached very few
younger people (and not all the many older ones) I’m still glad I did it.
